Means foe climbing telegraph-poles



UNTTED sTATEs PATENT oEEIcE. f

specification of Letters Patent No. 26,280, dated November `e9, i859. j

To all whom it may concern: t

Be it` known that I, JAMES H. MCNEELY, of the city of Indianapolis,Marion county, and State of Indiana, have invented a new and usefulImplement for Ascending and Descending Telegraph-Poles or other UprightObjects; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear,and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, in which-Figure l is an inverted view of the climber. Fig. 2 is a view of theclimber as used when ascending or descending upright objects,represented as having hold of the pole P, which letter represents atransverse section of the obj ect to be ascended, and Fig. 3 is a sidesection of the climber, designed to show the peculiar twist or angle inthe bend of the hooks, by which allowance is made for the taper in anobject ascended or descended.

`The nature of my invention consists in preparing a piece of iron Ashaped as shown in Fig. l, to the bottom of which are attached the loops(D) and F (Fig. l) in which works the adjustable hook B, which issecured by the thumb screw (G). The hook (C) is riveted to the loops D,E, and F, and the whole implement is attached to the foot of the user,by the toe and heel straps H and I, in the manner of an ordinary skate.The curved arms of the hooks (B) and (C) are twisted parallel to `eachother in such a way, that as the climber ascends, and the pole becomessmaller, the

heel of the implement lowers, and the gage of the hooks becomesnarrower, and lwhile the climber is descending, the heel is elevated andthe gage becomes wider. This peculiar arrangement is shown by the twistor angle of the hooksB and C in Fig. 3.

The climbers are made to be used in pairs, one for each foot, of theperson using them; and the hooks B and C are bent so as to point intoward the pole, from each foot on which they are worn respectively.

The mode of'using this implement is, after oneL of them is firmlystrappedor otherwise secured to each foot, then, by throwing, the j jfeet out and in alternately, against the ob-` j ject which the climber l1s ascending, the hooks B and C spanning the pole as is repj resented inFig. 2 and being twisted as repf l resented in Fig. 3 the lower edge ofthe` hook (C) and the upper edge of the hook (B) come in contact with`the pole, and en-l ables the person to ascend and work with greatfacility. As the climber `ascends, if, the pole is tapering, theheelofthe imple` ment becomes depressed, `when, in` conse-1 quence of thetwist in the ,bend of the hooks B and C as represented lin Fig?)thegage@ j becomes narrower, to `correspond withthe` decreased diameterof thepole.` 1A still fur-` i" ther change of gage may be made byloosen-` ing the set screw (G) andsliding thehook (B) in the properdistance. ,Indescending, f the climber reverses the operation described,andthus provides forthelincreased diameter j of the pole, or otherobjects to be ,ascended j j and descended. f j

By the use of this invention, telegrapl poles or othei1 uprightobjectscanbeas cended with about as much ease,1as the climbing of aladder, as the wearer `is enabled to obtain a fair foothold, giving him`an op portunity of strapping himself to thepost,` mast, tree, pole orwhatever heascends, b which means `he is enabled towork w great ease,advantage and safety.

What I claim as my invent'on, and desiref to secure by Letters Patent si The combination` and arrangement of the i j hooks B and C with theloopsl D, E and F` "3 and set screw G, when constructed and op-yl eratedsubstantially as set `forth.l 1 W JAMES HIMCNEELY.

Witnesses:

R. S. GEE, JOHN IIREDsToNE.

